Kory wrote:I find that many problems can be solved by emptying my trash, as silly as that sounds. Don't get your hopes up, but that stuff will still bog you down even though it's not on your desktop. You might also check out your Activity Monitor to see if there are some wacky programs running in the background that you're not using.

Nope, none of that. I always have the AM running, and nothing goofy there. I also have Little Snitch installed, so I can control any network activity. I'm really baffled why the free memory has grown so much, tho. I have 16GB of RAM and it's gone from 1–2 free to around 10, without any change in what's normally running.

How strange. Please report back from the Apple store, if they're able to provide an answer. I haven't been able to find anything on Google either, so I'm very curious.

I'm resisting taking it in because lugging an iMac is a pain in the ass. Assuming the problem is Safari, I'll probably just switch to Chrome or Firefox. But, yeah, if I'm forced to go in, I'll let you know what they say.

Other than a software malfunction where something taking up that remaining space has deleted itself then I'm at a loss why as to how the huge jump in RAM.

Marky Dread wrote:Other than a software malfunction where something taking up that remaining space has deleted itself then I'm at a loss why as to how the huge jump in RAM.

Yeah, my working hypothesis is that the RAM app—it cleans up and frees up RAM every so often—isn't reading things properly right now, because the software being used isn't any different. So, a faulty gauge, so to speak. But why, I dunno.

Dr. Medulla wrote:My googly skills have been wholly inept on this, so I'll see if anyone here has any ideas. Yesterday, things went wonky with my iMac. The chief symptom was that Safari kept quitting, so I just restarted the whole machine. This led to two seemingly contradictory results. One was that the amount of free RAM went from around 1–2 GB to around 10 GB. Mysterious, but that should be good. However, things in general slowed down considerably. I know I'm going to have to suck it up eventually and take it down to the Apple Store, but I'm curious whether there are any ideas about the strange paradox of more free memory and decreased performance.

What is your typical CPU usage?

I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla wrote:My googly skills have been wholly inept on this, so I'll see if anyone here has any ideas. Yesterday, things went wonky with my iMac. The chief symptom was that Safari kept quitting, so I just restarted the whole machine. This led to two seemingly contradictory results. One was that the amount of free RAM went from around 1–2 GB to around 10 GB. Mysterious, but that should be good. However, things in general slowed down considerably. I know I'm going to have to suck it up eventually and take it down to the Apple Store, but I'm curious whether there are any ideas about the strange paradox of more free memory and decreased performance.

What is your typical CPU usage?

Not sure what do you mean. The CPU is normally quite placid except when a Flash-intensive web app is running, or when the GMail app is checking (for some reason, it's a massive memory hog).

Dr. Medulla wrote:My googly skills have been wholly inept on this, so I'll see if anyone here has any ideas. Yesterday, things went wonky with my iMac. The chief symptom was that Safari kept quitting, so I just restarted the whole machine. This led to two seemingly contradictory results. One was that the amount of free RAM went from around 1–2 GB to around 10 GB. Mysterious, but that should be good. However, things in general slowed down considerably. I know I'm going to have to suck it up eventually and take it down to the Apple Store, but I'm curious whether there are any ideas about the strange paradox of more free memory and decreased performance.

What is your typical CPU usage?

Not sure what do you mean. The CPU is normally quite placid except when a Flash-intensive web app is running, or when the GMail app is checking (for some reason, it's a massive memory hog).

I don't really use Macs, so I assumed the activity monitor would give you a percentage for CPU usage, so you'd know what the kind of baseline is for usage. If you had excessive CPU usage but lots of memory, it could still be slow.

I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla wrote:My googly skills have been wholly inept on this, so I'll see if anyone here has any ideas. Yesterday, things went wonky with my iMac. The chief symptom was that Safari kept quitting, so I just restarted the whole machine. This led to two seemingly contradictory results. One was that the amount of free RAM went from around 1–2 GB to around 10 GB. Mysterious, but that should be good. However, things in general slowed down considerably. I know I'm going to have to suck it up eventually and take it down to the Apple Store, but I'm curious whether there are any ideas about the strange paradox of more free memory and decreased performance.

What is your typical CPU usage?

Not sure what do you mean. The CPU is normally quite placid except when a Flash-intensive web app is running, or when the GMail app is checking (for some reason, it's a massive memory hog).

I don't really use Macs, so I assumed the activity monitor would give you a percentage for CPU usage, so you'd know what the kind of baseline is for usage. If you had excessive CPU usage but lots of memory, it could still be slow.

The AM does track that but it fluctuates, so I don't know what a fair baseline would be. The RAM usage is generally more stable as I've normally got the same apps open the whole day. Safari was one of the things that was grinding shit to a halt and spiking the CPU, so I'm switching to Chrome to see whether it has a system-wide benefit. Even if that's the solution, I have no clue why.

Dr. Medulla wrote:My googly skills have been wholly inept on this, so I'll see if anyone here has any ideas. Yesterday, things went wonky with my iMac. The chief symptom was that Safari kept quitting, so I just restarted the whole machine. This led to two seemingly contradictory results. One was that the amount of free RAM went from around 1–2 GB to around 10 GB. Mysterious, but that should be good. However, things in general slowed down considerably. I know I'm going to have to suck it up eventually and take it down to the Apple Store, but I'm curious whether there are any ideas about the strange paradox of more free memory and decreased performance.

What is your typical CPU usage?

Not sure what do you mean. The CPU is normally quite placid except when a Flash-intensive web app is running, or when the GMail app is checking (for some reason, it's a massive memory hog).

I don't really use Macs, so I assumed the activity monitor would give you a percentage for CPU usage, so you'd know what the kind of baseline is for usage. If you had excessive CPU usage but lots of memory, it could still be slow.

The AM does track that but it fluctuates, so I don't know what a fair baseline would be. The RAM usage is generally more stable as I've normally got the same apps open the whole day. Safari was one of the things that was grinding shit to a halt and spiking the CPU, so I'm switching to Chrome to see whether it has a system-wide benefit. Even if that's the solution, I have no clue why.

Could be a bad update on Safari. I've seen the same happen with other pieces of software--some bug or incompatible feature.

I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

eumaas wrote:Could be a bad update on Safari. I've seen the same happen with other pieces of software--some bug or incompatible feature.

I'm guessing something is corrupted within Safari, but I deleted the cache and all that with no real improvement. The last update was months ago, so it wasn't in the update proper, I don't think. I've never actually been dazzled by Safari—I just used it out of default and it hasn't been horrendous or anything (I'm still using it on my laptop with no problem).

For those seeking a satisfying conclusion to my browser-related dyspepsia, I've switched from Safari on both Macs to Chrome, which has also allowed me to dump an independent Gmail app that was a memory hog. Between whatever grind Safari was causing and the extra RAM savings from getting rid of that app, everything is running much better than before. It's the feel-good folk tale we all deserve. Courage!

Dr. Medulla wrote:For those seeking a satisfying conclusion to my browser-related dyspepsia, I've switched from Safari on both Macs to Chrome, which has also allowed me to dump an independent Gmail app that was a memory hog. Between whatever grind Safari was causing and the extra RAM savings from getting rid of that app, everything is running much better than before. It's the feel-good folk tale we all deserve. Courage!

It's nice to know that even in these troubled times, sometimes rays of hope shine through the clouds.